


Different View Points

by infectedscrew



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Damian is uncomfortable, Gen, Minor Violence, Minor cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 06:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6792202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infectedscrew/pseuds/infectedscrew





	1. Chapter 1

Damian stared at his father like he’d grown an extra head. Something he’d never really had to do before. Right up until this point, his father had never been anything less than logical. A singular being that was the closest thing to perfection that the world could get. And yet, all of the words that tumbled out of his mouth seemed determined to disprove all of that.

“Father, I… What?”

Bruce arched an eyebrow, turning from the computer to look at him. “Did I stutter?” He asked, mouth tipping down. “The Red Hood sent me a message for help. I promised him as much, however I can not leave Gotham. You’ll go in my place.”

Once more the words had to sink into Damian’s thoughts. His jaw tightened and he was finding it very hard to blink. As if the very motion would send his world crashing back into reality and he would wake up in his bed. However, he knew this was very real, his father’s frown was a testament to that.

“When will I go?” He asked, finally.

“Now,” was the reply.

—

That had been twelve hours ago. Currently, Damian wanted nothing more than to throw himself out of this infernal jeep and hope to a higher power that they happened to be driving next to a cliff when he did. Surprisingly, Jason himself hadn’t been that annoying. It was his company that made Damian consider mass murder a good idea.

First of, the woman was wearing far too little clothing. It was indecent. Then again, she was an alien and she was entitled to do whatever she wanted. Considering the fact that she could easily blow his head off of his shoulders if he dared suggest her in the wrong. Tamaraneans were tricky creatures.

Secondly, the red headed man just wouldn’t shut up. It was constant. If he couldn’t think of something to talk about he would ask needlessly personal questions. Honestly, he didn’t need to know what color underwear Grayson wore. It wasn’t important. Right now, Damian was pretty sure he was complaining about how dirty the hotel rooms had been and it was all Jason’s fault.

Damian snorted, glowering over the door at the desert surrounding them.

Without taking his eyes off of the road, Jason reached back and punched his chin.

“Why did you do that, Todd?” He demanded, glaring at the back of the infamous red hood.

Jason chuckled. “Making sure you’re still a live back there, Little Hood.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m still Robin,” he snapped, drawing his knees to his chest and trying to ignore the pupil less stare he was getting from the woman.

“Right now, you’re my side kick. So, you’re whatever I want to call you,” Jason replied, turning the wheel a sharp left.

Damian was thrown across the backseat into Kory’s lap. Why she hadn’t flown was beyond him. This was a simply indecent position for any proud Wayne to be caught in. With a huff, he righted himself.

Kory only frowned at him, before turning back to listen to Roy.

“Why haven’t you killed me yet?” He asked out of the blue as the fifth sand dune passed by. “I’m not my father, shouldn’t you have tried to get better help?”

Jason frowned at the rear view mirror. “Kill you? Why would I do that? I need you,” he stated, glancing to the right, over Roy’s waving arms. Satisfied, he threw the Jeep into another sharp turn, sending Damian into the door this time. “I asked for you, specifically.”

Damian blinked, rubbing his side. “Why?” He asked, eyes narrowing.

“Because I need your skills. You know these deserts better than anyone and the people in them,” Jason explained as the Jeep peeled over the sand. “I need your knowledge to be able to get into this camp. On top of that, I need your swordsmanship skills.”

Once again, all of Damian’s opinions were blown out of the water. His jaw tightened as he thought about what to say.

“Wow, Jay,” Roy chuckled. “When did you get complimentary? Do you have anything nice to say about me?” He asked, batting his eyelashes.

“No,” Jason replied. “You’re a scumbag who needs a haircut. Damian on the other hand, is useful.”

Roy winced, looking hurt. “Ouch. Fine. Last time I ask for handouts from the great Red Hood.”

Damian sighed. Wherever this camp was, he had the feeling it was going to take quite some time to get there.


	2. Chapter 2

“I have to go where?” Damian hissed, his mask shifting into obvious displeasure.

Jason tilted his head to look at him. Despite the almost total darkness, there still managed to be a faint glow to his infernal helmet. “Did I stutter?” He replied.

Damian stilled, his frown deepening. Only one person could use that phrase against him and he was 3000 miles back east. “No. I’m just seriously questioning your sanity.”

“Aren’t we all?” Roy’s voice cackled into the ear pieces they all sported.

“Shut up, Harper,” Damian growled. He glanced back down over the edge of the small ledge they were resting on. Far below them a group of well armed men stood around babbling in Arabic. “Todd, this isn’t going to work. Those men work for the Spider’s Web. Not even my grandfather was moronic enough to go against them.”

There was a sound, vaguely close to laughter, coming from Jason. He shifted on the ledge, his gun scratching against the surface. “Scared, Little Hood?” He asked.

“It’s Robin and no,” he retorted. “I just wished for you to know that you’re not going to make it out of this cave a live.”

With that, he pulled out his grapple hook and fired it to the opposite wall. Using all of the training his father and mother had given him, he glided silently to the end and much like a shadow, he dropped to the floor below. There was a heart beats pause where he made sure the group of men hadn’t seen him. When only one twitched around to look, he let out a small breath and dipped down into the smallest tunnel he had ever come across.

According to Jason the Spider’s Web had been slowly leaking massive amounts of weapons, drugs and hired killers into the black market. While common in the Middle East and parts of China, some of their goods and finally made it over seas to America. Batman had called a hit recently on a small ring just outside of New York but everyone knew that if they didn’t get right of the mother-nest, the problem would never go away. For the last month and a half, Jason and his Outlaws had been researching this group and now they were finally drawing in for the attack.

“As far as I know, there should be an outlet to your left,” Jason supplied into his ear.

Damian rolled his eyes. Even if Jason couldn’t see it, it made him feel better. “Fantastic tip, Todd,” he muttered. “That would be ever so helpful if I could actually see!”

After a pause, more of that strange laughter echoed into his ear. “Little Hood,” Jason teased, “Just turn on your night vision.”

Damian almost bumped his head into a corner, he stilled so fast. How had he forgotten? And why was Jason Todd, of all people, the one to remind him. Not giving Jason the satisfaction, he silently turned on his mask settings.

“See it?” Jason chuckled into his ear.

Damian growled and would have snapped at Jason to get a map if it hadn’t been for the fact that he did, in fact, see it. Another growl rolled out of him. Muttering vehement curses under his breath, he turned into the outlet and crawled through the ventilation shaft. Jason clucked information and commands at him the entire way down.

“Todd! Seriously, could you be silent for a moment?” Damian finally snapped into the communicator.

His wish was granted, Jason was silent. However, in the vigilante world that was never a good thing.

“Todd?” Paused in the ventilation system, Damian checked the channels. “Harper? Todd, are you there?” He pressed a hand to the ear piece as if pressing it further into his skull would enhance communication. “Starfire,” he finally opted on their escape woman. “Have Todd and Harper come out?”

“No,” Kory said after a second. “They are still inside. Have you lost contact?” She asked.

Damian grimaced. “Yes.”

“Shall I come in?” She asked and they both knew she would come in whether he granted her or not.

“Give me five minutes. I still have to get to the computers,” he replied.

She didn’t respond, but then, he didn’t really expect her to.

Giving a grunt of deep felt annoyance, Damian pulled himself through the final few feet of the vent. Just before he could shove the grate off, Jason shouted into his ear.

“Little D! Get out of there!”

Damian stilled, his hand clutched around the metal bars. “What? Todd, what’s happening?”

“It’s a trap! They knew we were coming. Get the fuck out of there!”

In the background, Damian could hear the distinctive sound of gunfire. His veins suddenly felt very cold. The sharp twang of arrows cut into the fire but that wasn’t what concerned Damian. It was the gentle tapping sound. He knew that sound from childhood.

The Spider’s Web wasn’t considered one of the most dangerous leagues in the Criminal Underworld for no reason. They specialized in danger, thrived in utter chaos and were the masters of destruction. That tapping could only mean one thing. One of their best killers was here. But where she was, Damian didn’t have a clue.

“Todd!” He snapped into the communicator. “Do you see a woman?”

“What? Little D, that doesn’t matter, just get out.” More gunfire and shrieks of pain, although from whose side, Damian didn’t know.

“It does matter do you see her?”

“No… Fuck you! That’s my gun!” Jason shouted, clearly grappling with someone. “Get out of there, Wayne. Get to Kory and get out of here.”

Damian’s jaw tightened for the hundredth time in the last few days. “Todd, I’m getting the information and I’m not leaving until—”

The grate in front of him suddenly exploded from the wall and a slim, deadly female face slid into view. Her mouth pulled into a smile that would have been welcoming had it not been for the fact that her eyes hinted at something less than friendly.

“Hello little bird,” she cooed, the words falling from her lips like the sweetest poison. “Care to play?”

Suddenly, the computers didn’t seem all that important.


	3. Chapter 3

Her hand shot forward faster than the Flash himself. Talon-like nails curled into the front of his tunic and jerked him from the vent. Not giving him a second to orient himself, she flung him bodily across the small office.

The computer monitor shattered under his back and the ground came up a lot faster than he expected.

“Not much of a fight,” the woman sighed. “It would do better to simply kill you and get it over with.”

Damian dragged himself to his feet. He lifted his hands, ready to fight. He hadn’t come this far just to let some arrogant woman take it all away from him. “You won’t get near me again,” he snapped.

She blinked owlishly at him. Honestly, she would have been pretty if he didn’t know that she was a mass murderer who specialized in torture based on poison. Her large hazel eyes reflected a vague form of womanly warmth. Deceivingly delicate features smiled at him, mocking and teasing in a way no one else could.

“Oh? You’re a confident one, aren’t you,” she said, her smile growing, revealing white teeth that gleamed against her soft, tan skin. “That won’t last long.” She flicked a lock of wavy black hair over her shoulder before launching forward again.

Damian lurched to the side, just barely managing to stay out of her way. He knew who this particular woman was.

Known in the Underworld as The Black Lily, Harmina Kardiff was a force to be reckoned with. Her named appeared numerous times on Tim Drake’s list as a serious and deadly opponent. One of the elites of hand-to-hand combat, she was not above playing dirty. And her worst trick was her nails. Laced with the poison of Australia’s Inland Taipan. A single scratch from her fingers and he would drop to the floor in a second, unable to manage more than a vague twitch.

Of course, torture was what she was best at. She wouldn’t just kill him with that. The venom would attack his system again and again, melting his innards, shattering bones and destroying nerves leaving him a mess of a human. Still, she would heal him and let him suffer through it all over again until she reached her pleasure max. She would heal him over and over until he was begging for release.

He felt the pull of her hand at his cape. Fabric he could lose, his life he could not. He spun out of the way, drawing a bat-a-rang out of his belt and flicking it open. At the very least, he could distract her.

And what was more distracting than an exploding computer?

Not giving her a chance to fly at him again, he twisted and pierced the heart of the nearest console. He jerked away and scrambled back to the vent. Almost managing to pull himself back inside its safety, he felt her hands curl around his throat. Instantly, the fabric burned and tightened. He had never been so grateful for fabric in his life.

“Looks like your plan didn’t work, little bird,” she said, silk rolling over his ears.

She tugged him back, slamming his shoulders into the ground. Only pausing when she realized Damian was laughing.

“What are you doing?” She asked, confusion entering her features for the first time. “Why are you laughing?”

Damian choked back the sound, reaching up to grip her wrists. “You don’t know much about bats, do you?” He tilted his head as best he could to look at the computer. “You have to give them a moment before they can do anything interesting.”

The bat-a-rang was blinked at them cheerfully. A strange, shrill sound was echoing from it, curling into the air and wrapping around them in a semblance of an embrace.

“What did you do?” She hissed, her hands tightening around his throat. Silently, he prayed that the cape would hold out a little longer against her poison.

“Just… Give it a second,” he replied, kicking his legs against her but to little achievement.

The second passed and the shrill sound grew impossibly loud. It shattered the air in the room, making her clap her hands to her ears and rock back, crying out. Before she thought the sound couldn’t get any worse, it reached its highest peak and the bat-a-rang exploded. All of the computers, monitors and technology surrounding them shattered into a thousand pieces, erupting into flames that lanced across her bare skin making her scream in pain.

Damian rolled himself over and moved as far as he could away from her. He ducked into a small corner, shielding himself from the explosions. His arms curled over his head and for the second time in the last few moments, he prayed his cape would hold out.

Then, just as quickly as it happened, it was over. Silence dropped like the thickest blanket over the room. Only the occasional crackle from a computer told him he was still a live. A childish fear that he would never admit it having, kept him from moving and making sure the woman was gone—or at the very least dead.

“Little Robin?”

He jerked. It was Jason. He curled out of his corner and peeked around the edge of a very melted desk. “Todd?”

Jason wheeled around, spotting him instantly. “Oh thank God!” He gasped, lurching across the room and dragging Damian out of his safe spot. “Thought that psycho-bitch had killed you.” He lifted Damian clear off of his feet, checking him for injuries. “Man, the big man would have killed me if something happened to you,” he laughed awkwardly.

Over his shoulder Damian could see Roy, cradled in Kory’s grip smirking at him. The sharp-shooter looked horrible, but he still managed to smile, the fool. The alien was staring at him blankly as she always did and yet, he could see humor gracing the edges of her face.

Slowly, Damian looked back to Jason. “Is she dead?” He asked, not caring that his feet still hadn’t been put back on the floor yet.

Jason glanced over his shoulder. “Well, no. But you sure put her in her place.” His hands tightened around Damian’s arms. “You destroyed the computers.”

Damian frowned. “I didn’t have time to access them. I–”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jason cut in, finally setting Damian back on the ground. However, he kept a hand on the small male’s shoulder. “You made a huge dent in their network. It’ll take months for them to recover.” There was a pause before Jason shifted. “Good job.”

Damian blinked at him. “Ah, I… Yes, you’re welcome,” he said as prim as ever.

Jason shook his head. “Come on, little man, let’s get you back to the hide out so we can get a look at those marks on your neck.

Surreptitiously, Damian reached up to tap the marks. He winced slightly. They still burned but, as far as he knew, no poison. After all, he hadn’t dropped to the floor convulsing yet. Although, he might if he had to sit through another six hour car ride with Harper asking questions about Grayson’s personal sex life.

“Todd,” Damian said just before he settled into the Jeep. “When you go against the Web again,” he paused, long enough for Jason to have to stop and look at him.

“Yea?”

Damian fidgeted, something he would also never admit to doing. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Jason hesitated, before pulling off his helmet. A slow, steady smile pulled over his face; for once not mocking or filled with a burning desire to see Damian punted off of the nearest mountain. He reached over with his free hand and shuffled Damian’s hair.

“Sure. I rather like having a Robin by my side.” The smile turned to a smirk. “Just listen next time, will ya?”

Damian huffed. “You never listened to my father,” he returned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jason laughed, the sound rich. Damian didn’t think he could remember a time when Jason looked so at ease. Clearly, leaving Gotham had done him some good.

“Good point, little man. Now get in the car, Robin. It’s time for a celebration with me and my sidekick.”


End file.
